If you were able to go back in time and give your younger self some advice, what would it be? “Moisturise” is just one of the pearls of wisdom imparted in this film from writer-director Megan Park, who takes a hypothetical to funny and moving extremes in this unconventional coming-of-age movie.
Our heroine is Elliott, who we meet as an 18-year-old played by Maisy Stella (in her film debut). She’s self-assured, sexually confident and blithely self-centred as she goes on a mushroom trip with friends while her family wait at home with her birthday cake. But her trip takes an unexpected turn when her older self (Aubrey Plaza) turns up for a chat, and miraculously remains in contact via text even after the trip ends.
Elliott and her friends feel like fully rounded individuals.
This is technically a science-fiction film, in that it’s about time travel, but it has zero interest in explaining how Elliott meets herself, beyond a handwave at hallucinogenics. Really, it’s more interested in exploring what it’s like to be young and on the verge of everything, and what a person might or might not want to know about the future they’re about to begin. Is everyone alright? What mistakes are they going to make that they might want to avoid? Older Elliott keeps her advice extremely general, except for one thing: “Stay away from Chads”. Since younger Elliott soon meets a likeable neighbour called Chad (Percy Hynes White), she starts to question that prohibition, and to wonder if her older self really knows more than she does.
Park has a knack for bringing teenagers to life with all their quirks intact, not flattening them with any adult-imposed stereotypes. Elliott and her friends feel like fully rounded individuals, sounding worldly wise one moment and hopelessly naïve the next (as when, for example, Elliott learns her family are preparing to sell their farm). They’re vivid, sparkling creatures, shot dreamily against sun-drenched landscapes and floating on lakes, bickering and teasing one another amusingly.
The result is essentially a hang-out movie, but that one little sci-fi-esque twist gives Elliott the means to take a wider look at her life and figure out what really matters, whether that’s family, friendship or just finding a really good skincare routine.